Shaun Mason is a man
without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with
his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things
just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has. But
when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep
with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a new found interest in
life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who
attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead. Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

Shaun is keeping his news organization running even though he is still mourning the loss of his sister George. Things are going okay when a CDC researcher shows up at his door claiming to have information about the conspiracy that he and his sister had uncovered and his sister's death. Life is beginning to look a little lively in zombie town.

I have been wanting to listen to this book for a long time. I listened to Feed, and I loved the story and the narration so much. I wanted to listen to Deadline; however, the library didn't have the audio book, and I was iffy on the narrators for this book based on the sample. When the library picked up this audio book, I jumped on it, and I gave it a listen. I am so happy that I did. It was a great time. Let's discuss!

Zombie books are tricky to write, because zombie scenes are fun and exciting; however, most zombie stories are about people hanging out in safe buildings. Grant does a great job of keeping the story moving at a good pace and keeping the plot entertaining even though Shaun and the gang aren't being chased by zombies every five minutes. [This lack of zombie attacks makes sense, because the zombie situation has been managed in this universe.] Anyway, I was really pulled into the plot, so the limited number of zombie attacks really worked. It made each zombie attack more exciting and dire. With that said, if you are looking for a zombie, zombie book, this series will not be for you. Like in a classic Romero zombie film, the humans in this book are the real monsters; the zombies are just the reason to force people to be friends who normally wouldn't be friends.

I was never a big Shaun fan when I read Feed. I really loved George's parts, and I just liked Shaun's parts, so I figured I wasn't going to love Deadline as much as Feed. Although I did enjoy Feed a bit more than Deadline, surprisingly, I did enjoy Deadline and Shaun's story. He was a fun character to follow. I didn't even get tired of listening to him "talk" to George in his head. The rest of the characters were lots of fun too. I thought everyone was pretty interesting, and I found myself quickly caring about whether these folks lived or died.

Deadline delves more deeply into the conspiracy that was hinted at in Feed. I thought that the conspiracy was rather clever, and I can't wait to see where everything goes in Blackout. I was quite impressed with the clues Grant set up and how realistic the scenario (both the disease and the conspiracy) played out. This conspiracy felt horrifying to me, because I could see this happening in real life.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I can see myself re-listening to this entire trilogy again and again, assuming that Blackout is just as strong as Feed and Deadline. Considering all three novels were nominated for the Hugo, I am not too worried.

Audio: The audio was clear and crisp, and the readers' tone and inflections were excellent. The pacing was good. My one complaint was that Patton seemed to have a minor lisp at the end of every word he said. This lisp was minor, and I would forget it most of the time, but sometimes it really bothered me. Again, this pronunciation thing is really minor, but once I heard it, I couldn't unhear it.